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Posts Tagged ‘comfort measures’

Coping, hoping, moping and other strategies

April 11th, 2008

I had a couple of posts on coping with migraine that I thought would work fine for this month’s blog carnival, but I couldn’t resist doing some on-the-job research.  Yesterday I had a splendid set of opportunities to get a migraine, followed by an opportunity to cope.

It went like this:  First, to create the desired research environment:

1.  Sleep badly.
2.  Rush through getting ready and go out in rush hour traffic to coffee with a business associate.  Choose the hip, cool, NOISY coffee shop.
3.  Stay in the coffee shop for 2 hours afterwards doing professional reading with the noise battering your ear drums.
4.  Step out into the gorgeous Spring day with the Bradford pears in full bloom along the street (they are very pretty and I am allergic to them.)  Sneeze a lot.
5.  Lead a seminar over lunch.  Have the attendees show up late so your lunch is late.  Get ravenous before eating.  Then have an intensive seminar on a challenging topic, that you have never led before.
6.  Back at the office, discover a major error in your publication that will cost you money you can’t afford.
7.  Receive worrisome news about someone.
8.  Cry.

There.  A near perfect research environment.  The only surprise was that the migraine pain was mild, and didn’t begin until about 6 pm.

And on to the coping:

1.  Unsure yet whether it’s a “real  one” or just a tension headache, take the mild and mainly ineffective pain-dullers available to an allergic person like me.  (Endorphigen  D-Phenylalanine supplement and Magnesium Choline Trisalycylic acid).  Drink a lot of water (16 oz or so).

2.  Take a fifteen minute gentle walk.  This will usually clear a tension headache for me.

3.  When these don’t impact the head pain, eat a light dinner.  I cannot take my triptans on an empty stomach, as the ache and pressure in my trunk from the triptan will make me nauseous on an empty stomach.

4.  Take the blessed and cursed Imitrex.  (Blessed for usually halting the migraine, cursed for making my head go all stupid, making my whole body ache, and intestinal ickiness.)

From here on in, it’s all about comfort.

5.  Receive hugs from husband and any offspring so inclined as to offer them.

6.  Hug kitty-cat who will probably not come snuggle on the bed.  (He comes once in awhile.  But generally considers our bed to be the territory of elder cat who died 7 years ago.  Can’t convince him otherwise.)

7.  Lie down on comfy bed.  Lights low.  Soothing adobe-orange walls. Many pillows. And my stuffed animals.

Wally is the perfect size to hug.

Pepito is very soft and exact holding-in-hand size.

Willy the Wooly Mammoth is really Danny’s, but I borrow him for my other hand (he’s my favorite but don’t tell).

7.  Buckwheat filled eye-mask can be cooled in the freezer, blocks the light, and puts a soft comforting pressure on my eyes.

8.  Husband or offspring checks on me after an hour or two, usually bringing cups of tea and medicinal dark chocolate.

9.  Gentle comedy on the tv goes a long way.

10.  Sleep.

– Megan
There’s got to be a morning after.

Tags: comfort measures, migraine treatments, Migraine triggers
Posted in Managing, Musings | Comments (8)